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International Minifiddlers is a distance education project in violin studies developed in Finland by Caprice Oy. The project was founded by a Finnish violinist Maarit Rajamäki. In International Minifiddlers, the acclaimed violin professor Géza Szilvay instructs violin pedagogues and their little pupils around the world online in real-time with the Colourstings Method. Children are taught systematically on a weekly basis starting from the very basics of violin studies. Countries currently participating in the project include i. a. Australia, South Korea, Alaska, Nepal, Faroe Islands, Germany and Finland.

International Minifiddlers uses some of the latest online teleconferencing technology. The distance lessons arranged twice a week are recorded and edited for online broadcasting. At the same time, the project extensively documents the Colourstrings Method and the lifework of professor Szilvay. The project is also in cooperation with the Brain and Music Team, a Cognitive Brain Research Unit of the University of Helsinki. Colourstrings Books are published by Fennica Gehrman.

International Minifiddlers promotes children’s culture and children playing music worldwide. The project gives music pedagogues around the world an opportunity to explore the Finnish high-standard musical education in detail. Through International Minifiddlers a worldwide network of talented music pedagogues and young musicians is created.

References: "It is a pleasure to be part of this project which I think is revolutionary and already very successful" - Esa-Pekka Salonen, 18.11.2014 Slush

“The impact of 50 years of experience is impressive: Géza Szilvay assures us that there might be faster ways to create instrumentalists, but the balanced way of teaching paves the way for the young players to “take off” later in a very personal and creative way.” - Elisabeth Zeuthen Schneider, associate professor, RDAM, Denmark

“Thank you for all your doing for the violin class. Because of you and Géza we have been continuing taking classes and learning most professional teaching and training system in the world.” - Mr. Xia, Alaska

Caprice Oy has developed musical distance teaching in cooperation with distinguished violinist Pinchas Zukerman since 1997 and is a pioneer in the field in Finland. The company provides expertise and services on distance teaching and consultation on the technical execution of distance classes. The clientele includes music institutions, universities, teachers, musicians and broadcasting companies around the world.